American Dried Beef: Wild Bill's Beef Jerky

Undoubtedly the most primitive food in the world is dried meat. After surviving on dried game for a hundred millennia, I expect that mankind is now hardwired to consume what we in the U.S. call "Beef Jerky".

In South Africa dried beef and game is called "Biltong" and it's seasoned with vinegar, salt, black pepper, sugar and coriander, then sun dried under insect netting. In Switzerland they call it Bindenfleisch. Marinated in white wine, salted and seasoned with herbs and onions Bindenfleisch is then dried at near freezing temperatures. In Asian countries locals air dry the meat after seasoning it with chili, honey, soy sauce, and fish sauce.

Which brings us to the United States where we salt our meat (as our European ancestors did) and then smoke it, as did the Native Americans. The addition of native hickory wood smoke was a particularly delicious addition. Fast forward a couple of hundred years and the beef jerky is a multi-million dollar industry in this country.

So far the best beef jerky I have tried is a brand called Wild Bill's Beef Jerky produced in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Particularly well seasoned and cut from full strips of beef, Wild Bill's Beef Jerky is just plain addictive.